By Matt Lieberman: Adam ‘Babyface’ Kownacki will be putting his undefeated record on the line against an opponent still to be determined on March 7 on PBC on Fox at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The unbeaten #3 IBF, #3 WBO, #4 WBA, and #8 WBC Kownacki (20-0, 15 KOs) will be headlining the card on the 7th of March LIVE on Fox.
The last time the 30-year-old Poland born Kownacki fought, he defeated former two-time heavyweight world title challenger Chris Arreola (38-6, 33 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on August 3 at the Barclays Center.
Kownacki’s lack of explosive power made Arreola fight hard
Going into the contest, it was assumed that Kownacki would easily beat the 38-year-old Arreola, but boy was it a tough fight for him. Arreola set a CompuBox record for a heavyweight by throwing an incredible 1125 punches in the 12 round fight, and many of those shots landed.
To get hit as much as Kownacki did and still win the fight is incredible. He won by the scores 117-111, 117-111, 118-110. The judges were more impressed with Kownacki’s superior power, but it’s still hard to ignore the many shots that Areola landed to the head of Adam in that fight.
If Kowancki is going to continue to rise up the heavyweight ladder, he’s going to need to keep from getting hit as much as he did by Arreola.
Kownacki has been winning against fringe level opposition in the last three years, beating these guys:
- Gerald Washington
- Chris Arreola
- Artur Szpilka
- Iago Kiladze
- Charles Martin
Besides having a difficult time beating Arreola, former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (27-2-1, 24 KOs) gave Kownacki all he could handle in their fight on September 8, 2018. Kownacki won a narrow 10 round unanimous decision by the scores 96-94, 96-94, 96-94.
Kownacki needs to be matched carefully
With Kownacki’s high ranking by the 4 sanctioning bodies, it’s unlikely that his management will put him against a live body on March 7th. If Kownacki loses the fight, then the 10 years that he’s been toiling away to try and get a world title shot will have been wasted. It’s not that Kowancki’s management is considering stepping him up against top 10 level opposition, because they probably aren’t.
Just looking at the guys that Kownacki has been matched against during his career, it’s clear that his handlers have been extremely careful with the guys that they’ve put him in with.
It would be nice to see Kownacki matched against one of these heavyweights in his March 7th fight:
- Dillian Whyte
- Dereck Chisora
- Luis Ortiz
- Alexander Povetkin
- Oscar Rivas
- Andy Ruiz Jr.
- Filip Hrgovic
- Joe Joyce
- Michael Hunter
- Otto Wallin
- Sergey Kuzmin
- Evgeny Romanov
At this point, you’d have to consider Mariusz Wach an upgrade from the guys that Kownacki has been fighting lately. Efe Ajagba (12-0, 10 KOs) would be a good option as well for Kownacki.
